Original subtitles

One of the oldest titles in the British Royal Family is

the Duke of York -

traditionally given to the second son of the ruling monarch.

Being the younger son, being the spare is a really difficult

role, there is no job spec.

Throughout its 600-year history,

the House of York has had more than its fair share of scandal.

Dukes of York are ripe for scandal.

There are always going to be pitfalls, of course you have all the

perks and privileges of being royal and none of the responsibility.

Some very formidable characters in our island's history have

been Dukes of York.

There's the infamous story of the princes in the tower who were

allegedly murdered by their uncle, Richard III.

But now the current Duke of York, Prince Andrew, is facing scrutiny.

As the second son, Andrew spent his childhood and of course

his adult life, he has spent in the shadow of his older brother.

A bit naive, but then his judgment had always been a bit naive.

Did you have to go by private jet to Newcastle?

Yeah, because there was no other way of getting there and back.

A naval officer and celebrated war hero...

When there are missiles and things flying around,

at that precise moment you are on your own.

I don't call it escapism at all, James Bond is escapism.

And I'm not a Commander yet.

A playboy Prince once second in line to the throne.

I think he was always seen as Prince Charles said, as the handsome

one, bit of a favourite of the Queen, he had a good life.

He had all the privilege with none of the responsibility.

Now caught up in a story that has shocked the world.

I think it's fair to say that this is a scandal of an entirely

different nature.

This is by far the most damaging of allegations.

Poor old Prince Andrew,

he rarely seems to be out of the papers these days.

Prince Andrew, are you going to resign, Prince Andrew? Are you an embarrassment, sir?

What impact will the current Duke of York

have on the future of the monarchy?

He's never been far away from controversy, but his connection

with Epstein, that ill-fated friendship has inflicted the

greatest damage on his reputation as a member of the Royal Family.

What will this latest scandal mean for the House of York?

Within the Royal House of Windsor, there are several different

titles, traditionally bestowed by the monarch.

Wales, Cambridge, Sussex and York.

The Duke of York, it's a very noble title,

it's traditionally given to the sovereign's second son.

Prince Andrew is the 11th Duke of York,

and he's now at the centre of a media frenzy

following the suicide of disgraced financier, Jeffrey Epstein.

And there is an old saying out there that says,

tell me who your friends are, and I'll tell you who you are.

Prince Andrew certainly isn't the first Duke of York to

be at the centre of controversy.

When one looks at second sons of monarchs,

is that they are sort of, they're a heartbeat away if you like, from the top role, the top job.

Dukes of York have over the course of history

been rather colourful characters.

The title Duke of York goes back to the

creation of the House of York in 1385, by Edmund of Langley.

For over 80 years the title was passed down through the male

heirs, until the House of York became a Royal household.

In 1461, during the War of the Roses, Edward, Duke of York

seized the British throne and became King Edward IV of England.

He gave the title Duke of York to his second son, Richard.

A tradition that has continued to this day.

The first second son to have that title was Richard, Duke of York.

And Richard, Duke of York was right bang in the middle of the Wars

of the Roses at that time when the Houses of York and Lancaster both

which had claims to throne, were basically fighting for the throne.

But Richard's life would be a short one after

he disappeared in mysterious and macabre circumstances.

There's the infamous story of the princes in the tower who were

allegedly murdered by their uncle, Richard III,

the king in the car park, as many people know him.

And allegedly he killed his nephews in the tower

because he wanted to be king himself.

The story goes that the nine-year-old Duke of York, Richard,

and his older brother, Edward, were locked away in the Tower

of London as part of a villainous scheme to claim the throne.

Their bodies were never found.

History holds that their bones are there in the Tower

of London.

With no male heir, the Duke of York title went into extinction

with nine-year-old Richard's death.

But just over a decade later, after a shift in the monarchy,

the title was given to the next second son in line to the

throne - a certain Henry Tudor.

Infamous Henry VIII of course was also a second son,

he was the second son of Henry the VII, he wasn't supposed to be king.

But when his brother, Prince Arthur died, he not only

married his former brother's wife, but he also became king.

Arguably one of the most notable Duke of Yorks to become King

is Prince Andrew's grandfather.

Some very formidable characters in our island's history have

been Dukes of York.

But perhaps the most significant,

the one immediately before Prince Andrew, was King George VI.

The Queen's much-loved father on whom

she pretty much has based her entire reign.

So, she holds that position extremely dear to her.

The Duke and Duchess of York with their little daughters, arrive in the first carriage.

And Princess Elizabeth lingers on the steps to take stock of the scene.

The abdication of Edward in 1936, paved the way for Albert,

the Queen's father, to give up his title as the Duke of York,

and become King George VI.

When the Duke of York realised that he was going to have to become

king, he broke down and cried.

He said, "I don't know anything about it."

"I haven't trained to do this job."

And you certainly do need training to do that job.

To be placed in the position of having to choose between love

and the throne is one of life's most tragic dilemmas.

Even if the dilemma is of the King's own making.

It's one of the most pivotal moments in the history of the British monarchy.

Princess Elizabeth is the daughter of the Duke of York.

Yes, she probably would have been a working Royal,

but her whole destiny was changed.

And in fact the history of the British Royal Family was changed.

Over time the Duke of York role has become known as the spare heir.

Being the younger son, being the spare is a really difficult

role, there is no job spec for it.

There are always going to be pitfalls, of course you have all the

perks and privileges of being royal and none of the responsibility.

The Dukes of York are really ripe for drama

and almost inevitably going to be problematic as they try

and find a role for themselves when they don't actually

have in their sights the big job - which of course is the crown.

One of those titles that goes through the ages and you

try not live up to a previous one.

But eventually something comes up and smacks you in the face.

Prince Andrew would not receive his official title of Duke of York

until his marriage in 1986.

But from birth he was in the headlines,

being the first child born to a reigning monarch, for 103 years.

Prince Andrew had a very happy childhood,

he came 12 years after the Prince of Wales was born,

and of course a little bit after Princess Anne was born.

The third of four children,

it was rumoured that he was the Queen's favourite.

I suppose some might say that Andrew was spoilt far more than

Charles was. I think family friends have certainly told me that he

was, he was the favoured son, and she had more

time for Andrew, he was her golden-haired little angel.

It's said this perceived favouritism led to Andrew developing

certain characteristics.

He was quite cocky even from a young age

and some might call it boorishness.

He had a reputation as he grew up at school for being a little

bit self-entitled, certainly very aware of who he was,

a sense of self-importance.

I think he was always seen, as Prince Charles said, as the handsome

one, a bit of a favourite of the Queen, and he had a good life.

You know, he had really all the privilege with

none of the responsibility.

In 1979 Prince Andrew would find a role for himself

when he joined the Royal Navy as a helicopter pilot.

The master is on, SCS, trims set, lights on.

He wanted to make the Navy really his career for life,

and he was a diligent young officer with one or two exceptions.

I mean he has famously said to have remarked to one senior,

very senior naval officer that a senior officer could call him

H, being short for HRH.

And the senior officer said, "And you can call me Sir."

And that again,

it gives you an idea of what the young Andrew was like.

Basically what I'm here for is to work the ship up into

aviation, and also myself back into the deck, and actually

getting back on the deck on a dark night is quite exciting.

He was a good naval officer, diligent, hard working.

Three years later, Prince Andrew was deployed into the heart

of the Falklands War despite Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher having

doubts over a young high-profile Royal going into battle.

He wasn't there as some sort of figurehead being tucked

away from the action.

He was in the middle of the action,

flying Royal Navy helicopters as decoys sometimes.

So very brave, very important,

and then clearly a very important moment in his life.

Harnesses locked tight at the back please, and...

The ruling monarch's second son fighting on the front line

captured the headlines.

At the time, you know, the Queen's second son to be

involved in the military service in this high-profile war,

the Falklands War that, you know, was something that the whole

country were very much glued to their television screens.

I mean this really was quite something really for a Royal

to be involved in this way.

When the war ended in 1982,

Prince Andrew returned to Portsmouth aboard HMS Invincible.

And it was a to a hero's welcome.

I don't think anyone will forget the images of the war hero prince

coming back from the Falklands, you know,

the golden boy of the Royal Family with the rose between his teeth.

And being very much hailed a national hero.

When you lie down on the deck and that's the moment when there are

missiles and things flying around.

And that's all there is.

At that point his reputation was probably at its absolute peak,

that was, that was Andrew's all time high.

The pride which to see how the British force

actually worked together. This was absolutely amazing.

It really was.

After the Falklands War, you know,

he was the golden boy of the British monarchy.

Upon his return, the Prince's love life would make front page news.

Andrew was blessed with the best looks of the young Windsors.

And he liked girls, and girls seemed to like him.

Most famously he dated beautiful brunette actress, Koo Stark.

This was all quite titillating

and exciting in terms of who Andrew was dating.

And I think fuelled that image of him being a bit of a playboy prince.

For a long time, people thought they were incredibly well matched,

she was a very sexy girl, she shared many interests that Andrew had.

And she was sparky, but she knew how to

behave, if you like, in Royal circles.

Andrew whisked Koo away to the Caribbean island of Mustique,

under the alias Mr and Mrs Cambridge.

She was even given the Royal seal of approval.

Their relationship was so close that Andrew introduced her to his mother.

Well, of course that sparked a frenzy of speculation in the press

that an engagement announcement was just around the corner.

The Royal romance soon turned to scandal.

Unfortunately for Andrew and particularly for Koo,

she had a past.

It turned out that, you know, not only was she an actress,

but she'd actually appeared in some pretty risque movies which

really were the death knell of the relationship.

We'd just embarked on the Diana years, attitudes towards

the Royal Family were changing, they were incredibly popular.

They didn't want to do anything that might jeopardise this reach

they had with the public.

Advisors around the Royal Family felt that she was

an unsuitable figure for Andrew to be seen with,

which was a great shame because I think

they might have made a very successful team.

Andrew and Koo eventually split up, and the Prince

went on to have a string of high-profile relationships.

He definitely had a penchant for pretty women, I don't think

it necessarily mattered whether they were brunette or blonde.

The girls fell for him, quite a number of girls fell for him.

And he had a succession of girlfriends

and in those days there weren't many Royals around to write about,

and Andrew was ripe for being written about.

The media dubbed him "Randy Andy".

I think the playboy image was rather

good for the Royal Family, I think it gave them a dose

of Hollywood glamour that they were lacking, and it was quite exciting.

To some extent the reputation,

the sort of playboy prince was deserved, but you know, in the

same way that you know, young Royal princes will be young Royal princes.

The press loved this,

you could see that this was Andrew at his prime.

By the mid 1980s, despite a reported playboy lifestyle

and front-page headlines

the future Duke of York was a popular member of the Royal Family.

I think he was brought up to believe that he was terribly important,

and just for a few brief years he was.

The hopes were high that actually despite being the spare to the

heir, he was going to make a success of this.

How then did he become embroiled in one of the Royal Family's

biggest sandals?

Prince Andrew, are you resigning?

I think Prince Andrew's friendship with Jeffrey Epstein has been

one of the most damaging things to happen to the Royal Family

within the last 30 or 40 years.

Members of the Royal Family are often given titles upon marriage.

And Prince Andrew was no different.

After marrying Sarah Ferguson in 1986, his mother, the Queen,

bestowed on him the title Duke of York.

With the Dukedom came a Royal salary of around £300,000 a year.

A Royal Duke of York coat of arms with an emblem made

up of an English lion, a Scottish unicorn, and anchor.

And a brand-new family home, Sunninghill Park,

a 12-bedroom mansion in Surrey.

Being the Duke of York,

of course a role that comes with all the perks and privileges,

life in a palace, a valet, a butler, his every whim catered for.

I mean Andrew had all of that, a life of luxury, a life of privilege.

Connected by title rather than blood, Prince Andrew was now

part of a House and lineage dating back over 600 years.

But his chapter as the Duke of York would not be free from scandal.

In 1999 Prince Andrew was introduced to Jeffrey Epstein.

This acquaintance would go on to result in one of the House

of York's biggest controversies.

Jeffrey Epstein was a multimillionaire American

hedge fund manager, who socialised in the company of rich,

powerful men, and beautiful women.

I think they became friends very quickly,

Andrew has always been attracted to rich men and money,

and Epstein was by all accounts a charismatic fellow.

There's one thing in America that trumps cash - it's royalty.

Epstein had the cash, Andrew has the cachet.

And of course Andrew was a real life prince.

Americans love British Royalty.

In 2008, Jeffrey Epstein was found guilty of procuring a person

under the age of 18 for prostitution.

And went on to serve 13 months in prison.

Prince Andrew's past meetings with Epstein before he was convicted

were now under intense media scrutiny.

Andrew would invite him to Balmoral, you know,

the Queen's private home, Balmoral.

Invited him shooting at Sandringham, the Queen's private home in Norfolk.

He went to Beatrice's 18th birthday party at Windsor Castle.

And was really kind of invited into the heart

of British society.

Many assumed that with Epstein having spent time behind bars,

the Duke of York would cut all contact.

What was so staggering was in 2011, after Epstein had been

released from jail, Andrew was photographed walking with him.

It was an extraordinary image,

and the whole story and the scandal if you like, about Andrew and

his questionable taste in friends, really springs from that photograph.

Andrew felt that he could still remain on amiable terms with Epstein.

A bit naive,

but then his judgment has always been a bit naive.

It was around the time of Epstein's release that

a photo of the Duke of York and Virginia Roberts, now Giuffre,

appeared in the world's press.

Although some close to the Prince claimed it was a fake

and the story went quiet.

Four years later things went from bad to worse for the Duke of York,

when Virginia Roberts implicated him in the growing sex scandal.

Virginia Roberts claimed she'd been essentially recruited as a very

young girl by Epstein, and Prince Andrew had slept with her three times.

Prince Andrew strenuously denied all allegations

and the accusations were later thrown out of court after

the judge ruled them immaterial and impertinent.

At the moment these are allegations, nothing has been proven,

and in this country, you are innocent until proven guilty.

Nonetheless, allegations of this nature are incredibly damaging.

Will you recover from this, Sir?

In 2015, with questions still looming over the Duke of York, he

was forced to address the accusations during a Royal engagement.

Firstly, I think I must and want, for the record, to refer to the

events that have taken place in the last few weeks.

And I just wish to reiterate and to reaffirm the statements which

have already been made on my behalf by Buckingham Palace.

This was one scandal that would not go away.

In July of 2019,

Jeffrey Epstein was charged with further counts of sex trafficking.

He committed suicide in his cell whilst awaiting trial.

With the eyes of the press back on Epstein and his associates,

Prince Andrew once again became front page news.

This time it was a video from 2010,

and like the photo in Central Park, it showed the Duke of York

spending time with Epstein after the latter's conviction.

A video of Andrew at Epstein's town house in Manhattan, you know,

where there were lots of comings and goings with young women.

So the world is saying, how could he not have known what was going on?

The Duke of York strongly denied any wrongdoing.

But the press continued to ask serious questions of him.

Members of the Royal Family have to be really

careful about the company they keep, and I think that the main

charge against Andrew is the company he has kept.

He's guilty of one thing, and that's poor judgment, of going to see

Epstein after he was convicted.

The ultimate lack of judgment is having a friendship with

Epstein at all. He sounds like an evil, you know, dreadful paedophile.

Prince Andrew's accusers were turning up the heat.

In explosive scenes captured outside a New York courtroom in the summer

of 2019, Virginia Roberts continued to accuse the Duke of York.

On the steps of the court, Virginia Roberts said,

and this is incendiary, said Andrew knows what he has done.

He knows exactly what he's done and I hope he comes clean about it.

Thank you.

That's what forced Prince Andrew into issuing his latest statement.

The Duke of York chose to clarify

the facts around his relationship with Epstein by issuing a statement.

As well as being appalled by the alleged crimes,

Prince Andrew claimed that he only saw Epstein once or twice

a year, and that he did not see, witness or suspect any behaviour

of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction.

I think he was trying to apologise. It just prolonged the story,

made everything worse, and it raised a lot more questions.

It does beg the question,

why has it taken him nine years to respond in the way he has?

The photograph has been around, and the allegations,

since before 2010, why on Earth didn't he say something then?

In spite of the negativity in the press, Her Majesty,

the Queen has continued to stick by her son.

He assured her of this the first time round in 2011, and

he assured his mother then that she had nothing to worry about.

I was told by a source very close to the family,

he has her full support and after this news had broken

the Queen was pictured being driven to church in Scotland with

her second son, smiling broadly for the cameras.

What better way I suppose, to send out a very clear signal

and show of support, the Queen was once again standing by her son.

It certainly isn't the first time that the Queen's second son has

had questions asked of him by the world's media.

I think in Royal circles there's a bit of a despairing

and wringing of their hands,

because this wasn't just a one-off, there has been

so many questionable decisions that Andrew has made and there's a

sense of, for goodness' sake, when were you going to wise up?

The comments that are made about an extravagant lifestyle

and so forth, is that fair?

What is an extravagant lifestyle?

Travelling by private jet?

In 2019, the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, hit the headlines

following the suicide of convicted paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.

His association with Epstein was another controversy to

add to the growing list that has plagued the House of York.

Prince Andrew's not the first Duke of York to be mired

in controversy, but I certainly think the Epstein allegations

are perhaps some of the more serious in the history of Dukes of York.

But this latest scandal isn't Prince Andrew's first brush with the press.

In 2001, Prince Andrew stepped down from his military position in the

Navy to take on a parliamentary role as the British trade ambassador.

There was the question of what's next for the Duke,

and this ticked all of the boxes.

Andrew was determined to make a success of being trade envoy.

And I think as an ambassador for Great Britain, certainly

in those early days of that role, I think he did quite a good job.

I mean he certainly had pulling power,

you would hear MPs saying that he was the greatest asset

for Britain in terms of trade and industry, because frankly you get a

call saying, "Would you like to meet Prince Andrew the Duke of York?" "Yes."

Prince Andrew's Royal profile opened many doors for British trade.

Pretty impressive, 6,000 jobs, and a billion pounds worth

of investment, I mean that's not something to be sniffed at, is it?

It isn't, and what's really encouraging about that is that, is

that that's gone into about 931 starting and scaling businesses, and

97% of those 931 are still operating today and they're still growing.

But some also feel that the Duke of York's new job came with

other perks.

Every June, every Royal Correspondent gets to go to

Buckingham Palace to look through the royal accounts.

And we all go straight to the travel document.

Because that's the one we all understand - how much

the Royal train costs, how much those private flights are costing.

And year after year he would be at the top of the list.

Go out on a trade mission either on a scheduled flight

or in what used to be known as a Queen's Flight aircraft.

And he'd do the business on behalf of British Trade International.

And then he'd go off and get the golf clubs out

of the boot of the plane, and go off and play golf.

The Duke of York's frequent travel

and mode of transport quickly garnered him yet another nickname.

Air Miles Andy was a nickname

which refused to shift for many, many years.

He was stung by the nickname

because he thought it was slightly insulting to him, as though

he was just sort of gallivanting around the world having fun.

Whereas his argument was, look, he's there on official

business, he's doing what the Government asked him to do.

One year in particular,

Prince Andrew cost the British taxpayer over half a million pounds.

This was seen as not on, and quite frankly it wasn't on,

it's not the sort of things you do.

If you go out and you're there doing a job of work on behalf

of UK PLC, you do the job of work, you come home.

If you want to go and play golf, then you make your own arrangements,

get on an aeroplane and play for the fare yourself and fly off.

And unfortunately he didn't do that.

The Duke of York agreed to a one-to-one television interview.

I am not doing this as it were, for my own good.

I am not getting any return for this,

this is all done on behalf of the UK.

It's not done on my behalf.

If I was doing it, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, as it were,

allocate my time in this way.

Can I ask you as I inevitably must, about the criticism that is

sometimes, even often, levelled at you in this job?

The comments that are made about an extravagant lifestyle

and so forth, is that fair?

What is an extravagant lifestyle? Travelling by private jet?

Using helicopters when you could take a train.

But it is, it is again, it is

the maximisation of my time for the best value for money and that's

the way that... And I'm not the one that makes those decisions.

In truth, it became quite a problematic role for Andrew.

I think he frequently found himself having to defend himself,

having to defend the flights that he was racking up.

That became an issue. That became more of the story

than Andrew representing Britain overseas.

And that was a problem.

Did you have to go by private jet to Newcastle?

Yeah, because there was no other way of getting there and back,

bearing in mind from what I was doing before,

and what I was doing afterwards.

On top of the alleged travel perks,

Andrew continued to be in the headlines.

Once again it was because of the company he was keeping.

It was the meeting with the Gaddafis

where I think eyebrows were raised.

He entertained the ousted former president of Tunisia

at Buckingham Palace.

The fact that Andrew went out to foster these questionable relationships

suggests that perhaps the allure of money, of wealth,

of all of these offshore billions was incredibly appealing to Andrew.

He's not good at picking his associates.

He's not good at picking his...

I won't say friends, but acquaintances.

Bottom line, he's grown up in palaces and castles,

he's the son of the Queen, he's used to a certain sort of lifestyle,

so guess what? He mixes with people who have that similar

sort of jet-setting lifestyle.

Andrew has perhaps been rather naive and not really perhaps

understood the kind of, at least the optics of some of what he has done.

I think Andrew felt that he had this official role as trade envoy

for the UK government and was doing a great job.,

He's very thin-skinned, and he takes any kind of criticism

extremely personally, and angrily, in fact.

The press continued to question the Duke's

suitability for the trade envoy role.

I think the press became less supportive over the years, I think.

He was on the receiving end of quite a lot of criticism. Was it unfair?

I would argue not, because I think some of the decisions Andrew

made were bad decisions.

Some of the business affiliations were not clever.

It was at this moment, with huge pressure

mounting on Prince Andrew's job, that the photo with

Jeffrey Epstein in Central Park was released,

sealing the Trade Ambassador's fate.

He mixed business with pleasure,

and if you're going to mix business with pleasure,

be very careful about the pleasure that you mix with. And he wasn't.

There was MPs who had described Andrew as the most glittering

asset for Britain overseas.

That was when those MPs then turned on the Duke and said,

"He's got to go. This is untenable."

In 2011, Prince Andrew stepped down from his role as Trade Ambassador.

I think that actually he felt he wasn't guilty of anything,

but it was undermining his position as a Trade Ambassador

and embarrassing the Queen and the Queen's government.

And I think he felt it would be best

if he just stepped aside at that time.

And I think that it probably stopped the continual

onslaught in the media, and that's probably what was needed.

How are you today, Sir?

Within the Royal House of York,

it's not just the Duke who has received negative publicity.

By his side for many years was the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson,

who was no stranger herself to scandal and controversy.

Sarah has a very contagious personality.

Andrew was very much drawn to her.

It was the ultimate Royal fairy tale in many ways,

and then it all came unstuck.

Prince Andrew has spent most of his life in the media spotlight.

A celebrated naval officer, a playboy prince,

and a much talked-about Trade Ambassador.

He received his official title from the Queen

and became the eleventh Duke of York upon marriage.

Fergie and Diana were very good friends.

And Diana was always trying to find a boyfriend for Fergie.

And she came up with the idea of Andrew.

Sarah Ferguson was typical jolly hockey sticks,

daughter of an army officer, a polo player.

Skiing all over the Alps in the winter.

She was always going to be an interesting addition to

the Royal Family.

And on top of that, she and Diana got on really well.

Every June, when attending Royal Ascot,

the Queen has her house party at Windsor Castle.

And on this occasion Diana invited Fergie, as she was known,

with her freckles and red hair and outgoing bubbly humour.

And she and Andrew apparently got on extremely well, so much so that they

were feeding each other profiteroles from the dining room table.

It's was at lunch, wasn't it, that we... Yes.

We were made to sit next to each other at lunch at Ascot.

Yes, and he made me eat chocolate profiteroles, which I didn't want.

I then didn't have any, so I got hit.

The Queen was delighted.

She has always really enjoyed Fergie's company.

Fergie's a horsewoman, she loves dogs, she loves country life.

And she's fun, she's... She's a really special girl,

and the Queen absolutely adored her.

Before long, the couple had announced their engagement.

Could I ask you, Miss Ferguson, do you remember what he said?

Absolutely. But I'm not telling you.

There would have been a sigh of relief that Randy Andy's

days of hitting the nightclubs were over.

I mean this was really the height of popularity

for the Royal Family, the wedding of Charles and Diana, William

and Harry being born, and then it was Andrew and Fergie.

Congratulations.

The press were hugely interested in Andrew and Sarah.

They were tactile, they were loving, they were everything

that Charles and Diana weren't, they were a great story.

In 1986, just five months after becoming engaged,

the pair married at Westminster Abbey.

Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson became the Duke and Duchess of York.

I think what was so exciting for the press during this period

of, of those Royal marriages was that for the first time

they had the original fab four.

You know, you had Andrew and Fergie, Charles and Di,

these two very glamorous women, they were out there on the world stage.

And I think at that period, you know,

the future was very sunny and very bright for the Royal Family.

The couple were whisked away on Royal tours of Canada

and North America, where the Duchess made quite an impression.

What I remember about that in particular was that she was

very articulate and seemed to handle herself well.

I could not go through a whole tour letting my darling

husband of a year and a day, do all the public speaking.

So we agreed for once...

that I should have the last word tonight.

I think Andrew was very proud of her.

I mean, she complemented him if you like.

In a way, she rubbed off some of his rougher edges.

I mean, he was still a slightly abrasive character.

She was good for him, yeah.

One of the Royal couple's stops was Hollywood.

I was on the Royal tour when they were in Los Angeles,

and they were a huge success. Everybody loved them.

At last I have the turn to talk.

All these men around here...

MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: We love you!

I'll see you later.

Fergie appeared in different little outfits in her different

bows in her hair, and it was all quite over the top.

I'm so amazed by Los Angeles and the welcome that you have given us.

And me.

But, I never forget that the only reason I'm here

is because I'm married to the Duke of York.

There was a big reception and all the sort of LA crowd,

and Fergie and Andrew really did well there.

In 1990, the couple had welcomed two children.

Beatrice and Eugenie.

But cracks were beginning to form in their marriage.

Fergie was finding life at the Palace extremely difficult.

She was being criticised hugely at this stage of her life.

She didn't have Prince Andrew at her side, because he was away

doing his naval duties, so things just really started to break down.

Captain.

Good evening, sir. A three-zero range of six miles. I am...

As well as the Royal tours, Prince Andrew was still serving

as a naval officer, spending more and more time away from his family.

Captain, roger, yes, thank you very much.

As a Commanding Officer, you can on occasions get extremely lonely

and isolated if you're not careful.

It's terrible, I mean, it...

I mean, you're going away, and leaving what you love behind.

It's a fantastic job,

all three services are a fantastic job for a single man.

It's getting less and less so for a married man.

I don't call it escapism at all.

James Bond is escapism, and I'm not a commander yet.

Sarah was basically a single mother at home with...

Raising two children, and it put a huge strain on the relationship.

The couple's marriage was under intense media scrutiny.

Rumours of affairs began to circulate in the press.

Fergie was seeing a man called Steve Wyatt,

and it seemed so soon after the marriage.

And yet there was already talk

that the marriage was in great difficulty.

She felt neglected by her own husband.

She was being given a really hard time by the press.

I think she was incredibly vulnerable.

Speculation continued for months,

until the Duke and Duchess of York were forced to make an announcement.

When Andrew and Sarah announced their separation in early 1992,

very rapidly she was seen to be involved with a man who was

euphemistically described as her financial advisor.

A Royal separation was only the start of the controversy

for the Duke and Duchess of York.

After now infamous photos of Sarah Ferguson were released in the media.

I was with John Bryan the night the pictures appeared in one of the

tabloids newspapers, and I'd gone to his flat with the Daily Mirror.

And he phoned Fergie, and I could hear him talking to her,

and, you know, he's saying, "It's bad, it's worse than we thought."

They'd managed to get pictures of her on a sunbed,

and she was having her toes sucked by her financial advisor.

These pictures were compromising, they were embarrassing,

you know, shameful for Fergie.

Things quickly went from bad to worse for the Duchess of York.

Poor Fergie, the following day she had to go down to

breakfast at Balmoral Castle where all the papers were all

laid out as they always are every day on a sideboard.

And she had to sit there,

and sort of the humiliation must have been awful for her.

She fled Balmoral in tears, and she didn't return for a very long time.

Sarah Ferguson was really cast to the outer darkness.

It was the final nail in the coffin for Andrew and Sarah.

The Duke and Duchess of York's relationship troubles

were publicised the world over.

Combined with other Royal scandals,

1992 would prove to be a year that would haunt the Queen.

It has turned out to be an annus horribilis.

I suspect that I'm not alone in thinking it so.

The 1990s was a series of disasters,

1992 being the worst year in terms of Royal break-ups,

three Royal marriages, three of the Queen's children separated in 1992.

Princess Anne divorced, Andrew and Fergie separated,

Charles and Diana separated.

Not only were her children's marriages deteriorating,

but they were being played out in the press

in the most lavish, spectacular fashion.

It culminated in that famous speech that she gave,

in which she described 1992 as her annus horribilis,

a horrible year, her worst year, if you like.

Four years later, Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew finally divorced.

Although no longer considered a Royal,

she was allowed to retain her title as the Duchess of York.

Many thought their separation would bring an end

to the media frenzy circulating the House of York.

You know, Diana took millions from her divorce with Charles.

Fergie took pretty much nothing.

So Fergie is constantly chasing her tail and running out of money.

And so she goes to more and more desperate means.

She became a bit of a liability to Prince Andrew,

and therefore I think he realised,

and certainly the Royal Family would have realised

that you know, whilst she still had these debts,

she was a massive liability.

Despite her divorce from Prince Andrew, in the late 1990s,

Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, embarked on an unofficial

tour of the United States.

She got involved with Weightwatchers, she seemed to be

basically doing anything she could to earn a living, make some money.

She had huge debts, she would spill her thoughts,

her emotions in front of anybody who would listen to her.

She became a kind of darling on the Oprah Winfrey

kind of circuit in America.

And it, this was exactly what a Royal,

even a sort of ex-Royal should not be doing,

and she really did cause embarrassment to the Royal Family.

Prince Andrew also found himself back in the headlines after

he sold the marital home, Sunninghill Park in Surrey.

The 12 bedroom country residence had been

a gift from Her Majesty, the Queen.

He wanted to get it off his hands, and it was on the market

and wasn't selling.

And then lo and behold, it was bought by one of the contacts

he'd made through his travels.

The son-in-law of the then president of Kazakhstan.

And this generous individual not only bought the house,

but he bought it for £3 million more than the asking price.

It provoked many questions as to why.

The answer has never satisfactorily been given.

At the time, a spokesman for Prince Andrew said there was never

any arrangement or impropriety,

and that £12 million was a guide price, not an asking price.

In 2010, rumours of bankruptcy for Sarah Ferguson

began circulating in the press.

And the Duchess of York became part of a huge

sting from the News Of The World,

as seen here in a secret video recording.

The fake sheikh for The News Of The World got lots of exclusives.

Filming people agreeing to stuff or taking money,

and the cash for access story with Fergie was incredibly damaging.

It was another black mark against her.

In the video, she is seen talking to the now discredited fake

sheikh offering access to Prince Andrew for half a million pounds.

No-one was surprised

when she found herself a victim of a pretty unpleasant newspaper sting.

And they got her on film boasting that she could get access

to Prince Andrew in exchange for half a million pounds.

It was hugely embarrassing once again for the Royals.

The Duchess of York has said she was devastated by the News

of the World's sting, and that it was a serious lapse in judgment.

She also later added that she felt tricked.

Sarah Ferguson's reported financial difficulties

would see a return of Jeffrey Epstein.

In 2011, the Duchess of York admitted

to accepting £15,000 from Epstein to help pay off her debts.

One of the other complications to the story of Epstein

and Andrew, is the fact that the Duchess of York herself was

acquainted with Epstein, and indeed he lent her money for

the infamous debts that she had after her divorce to Andrew.

Epstein was among a number of rich men who helped to bail her out.

A bad choice, and I think the Duchess has

since recognised that she should not have accepted money from him.

Sarah Ferguson later said she had made a gigantic error of judgment.

It all just is very, very, very unfortunate, and it's again

this kind of lingering bad taste that Epstein has brought to

the Royal Family's reputation in regard to both Andrew and Sarah.

Despite all the controversy, over the years Prince Andrew

and the Duchess of York remained close.

What I find remarkable is that, despite all of the scandal,

you know, the debt, the controversies,

Andrew and Sarah have remained the best of friends.

With the whole Epstein affair, Fergie has absolutely kind of stood

by her man, I think she's the one who's been in scrapes before,

and Andrew's always stood by her, he's never thrown her to the wolves.

He's always looked after her financially, emotionally.

And I think this time she felt able to repay a lot of that debt.

With the Epstein scandal showing no signs of disappearing,

and Prince Charles set to one day take the throne,

what does the future hold for the Duke of York and his family?

Over the years,

the House of York has been embroiled in damaging scandals.

None more so than the association

with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

I think that Andrew's judgment is probably clouded

partly by the life he's led, his upbringing.

He's been protected from the world.

And Royal insiders say that the whole affair has impacted

Andrew's relationship with his older brother, Charles,

who as future king will have ultimate say

over the future of the British monarchy and Andrew's role.

My understanding from a source very close to the Prince of Wales

is that when he saw those pictures of Epstein

and his brother photographed walking in Central Park,

his advice to his brother was to leave that relationship well alone.

It was a relationship that I think had worried Charles from quite

an early stage, but that picture was,

was really the nail in the coffin for Charles.

It was when he said to his brother, "Stay away from this."

But of course, that advice came a little too late.

Could the scandals of Prince Andrew lead to

the marginalisation of the House of York?

There is a battle going on right now behind the railings of Royal

palaces about the future size of the British monarchy,

about slimming it down, about getting rid of the minor

royals from the public funding and so on.

There was a glimpse of the new potential

slimmed-down monarchy at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

The Duke of York and his two daughters, princesses Beatrice

and Eugenie, were noticeably absent, further fuelling speculation

that Prince Charles was beginning to sideline the House of York.

Andrew and his family not being invited

to appear on the balcony at Buckingham Palace for the Queen's

jubilee was really significant, because it was a real statement

of intent by Prince Charles. This was the future of the Royal Family.

William, Harry, Kate, Charles, Camilla, the Queen.

Andrew and Eugenie and Beatrice were nowhere to be seen.

And Andrew very much felt the snub,

but Charles was proclaiming it very publicly by saying

this is the current monarch, this is the future monarch

and this is the future of the royal family in a very, very public way.

And it was like, no Andrew.

It's the magnificent seven as they then were.

That's Charles's vision of a modern monarchy.

It's not a balcony stuffed full of 20 or 30 people.

Andrew's not stupid. He's noticed that,

and he is absolutely campaigning for a future role,

a bigger role for Eugenie and Beatrice.

We'd like to declare the Teenage Cancer Ward open.

Now, this has provoked an enormous conflict,

largely between Prince Andrew and his brother, Prince Charles.

It's Charles who is driving this idea of a slimmed-down monarchy,

and it has been from Charles's side of the argument that

Beatrice and Eugenie should perhaps be pushed out of the limelight.

As well as criticism levelled at the Duke and Duchess of York,

their daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie,

have also over the years been criticised by the press.

In particular, their cost to the taxpayer.

As Royal princesses,

they'd had full-time, wraparound Royal protection.

Royal protection,

armed police officers, is a very expensive business.

It's a necessity for front-line members of the Royal Family,

but where the public began to question the costs involved

in security were particularly about Beatrice and Eugenie.

The public kicked up and said, you know, this is ridiculous,

Beatrice is travelling all over the world on exotic holidays.

Why should we pay police protection? Which is quite right.

It's like, well, why are we paying for this

when she's not going to be a future working Royal?

And so Andrew, under a lot of public scrutiny,

was forced to pay for it himself.

He was not very happy.

The money was stopped in 2011

to pay for all these protection officers for both girls,

and then they lost the sovereign grant,

which meant they would not get money paid out of the sovereign's purse

because they weren't going to do Royal duties.

It was decided that the working

members of the Royal Family would be limited to the four children

of the Queen, and then Charles's children, the heir's children.

Because it was decided that we didn't want to have

too big a drain on the sovereign grant.

But Andrew wanted both his daughters to be working royals.

I think he wanted a status for them.

You look at the Princess Royal, she's got two children,

Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall.

Both of them, without titles, have made their way in life,

quite admirably, without any hand-outs from anybody,

without any titles, and it's worked for them.

And if it's worked for them,

then it should work for Beatrice and Eugenie.

In 2018, Princess Eugenie married her long-term boyfriend,

Jack Brooksbank, amid all the pomp and ceremony of a Royal wedding,

the scale of which, many believed, was Prince Andrew's way

of putting his family back into the Royal limelight.

There was criticism over Eugenie's wedding.

It was paid for privately, and yet, you know, there was still

questions asked over whether it was absolutely necessary

to have two wedding dresses, three days of parties.

And I think for the Yorks, it's hard for them

to escape that sort of controversy because they have been

known for their exuberant spending over the years.

Prince Andrew becomes very grand and Royal,

and he makes things happen.

You want to get married in St George's chapel?

You'll get married in St George's chapel.

You want the biggest party the world has ever seen in my back garden?

You'll have it.

Andrew was at pains to point out that this was a bigger

wedding than Harry and Meghan's,

and that they'd invited more people to fill St George's chapel.

Because, of course, that was the same place

that Harry and Meghan had got married a couple of months earlier.

Because Jack and Eugenie had so many friends.

So more people had to come.

Eugenie had three days of parties.

It was almost Andrew saying,

"Yeah, Meghan and Harry, whatever you can do, I can do better."

And with Beatrice's recent engagement to Italian

property tycoon Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, speculation regarding

the scale of her nuptials has already started in earnest.

And it was rumoured in the press that Prince Andrew

was keen for his daughter's husbands to have Royal titles.

Something the Duke of York denied.

It's very interesting the way that Princess Eugenie's still styled.

Because her husband hasn't got a title, officially

she should now be Mrs Jack Brooksbank, and the court's circular

and in correspondence because that's her very archaic official title.

But it's very interesting that she's styled Princess Eugenie comma,

Mrs Jack Brooksbank.

So, I think that was very much a sign from Prince Andrew that

his daughter should be remembered, that she's still a princess.

Despite Prince Andrew's best efforts to keep the House of York front

and centre, what will the Epstein scandal mean for the Duke of York?

In the summer of 2019,

fresh revelations on the Epstein scandal emerged,

once again threatening to engulf the Duke of York.

Will you recover from this, Sir?

He's never been far away from controversy,

but his connection with Epstein, that ill-fated friendship,

the Epstein connection has inflicted the greatest

damage on his reputation as a member of the Royal Family.

In July, federal prosecutors filed new charges,

and once again arrested Jeffrey Epstein.

Prince Andrew's continued friendship with Epstein was once more

called into question.

Previously unseen footage of Prince Andrew

in Epstein's Manhattan town house appeared in the media.

Although it had sort of slept dormant for four or five years,

it, it burst on the scene again,

and they showed a video of Andrew

at Epstein's townhouse in Manhattan.

You know, where there was lots of comings and goings with young women.

So the world is saying, how could he not have known what was going on?

This has been a very turbulent summer for the Royal Family.

Buckingham Palace has gone into firefighting mode,

they're defending the Duke of York

against the most serious allegations to plague him in his Royal career.

There are questions that many believe the Duke hasn't

completely answered.

Epstein's suicide whilst in custody

meant he never stood trial for the new allegations.

Epstein killed himself shortly before going on trial again,

and so his accusers feel that they have been

cheated of their day in court.

Footage captured on the steps of a New York courthouse

showed Virginia Roberts, now Giuffre,

renewing her accusations against the Duke of York.

He knows exactly what he's done, and I hope he comes clean about it.

Thank you.

There's also of course the wider allegation

of what he knew about what Epstein was doing.

Did he really see nothing,

as of course he has strenuously insisted is the case?

Now that Epstein is dead,

and he's not going to have his day in court, it's hard to see how

Andrew can properly and conclusively shut these allegations down.

The case against Epstein was dropped after his suicide,

but there have been calls to investigate some of his associates.

With the Duke of York named in court papers in 2015,

Virginia Roberts's lawyers have asked for Prince Andrew

to come forward and be interviewed under oath,

despite a judge ruling comments about him be struck

record for being immaterial and impertinent.

Andrew has never been spoken to by American law enforcement agencies.

Buckingham Palace has been at pains to stress that if people

want to talk to Andrew, they can.

I mean, of course, they would say that, wouldn't they?

Whether that would actually happen is a different matter.

If the Duke of York were to testify, it would be the

first time in history that a member of the British Royal Family

has appeared in a US court.

Andrew, clearly in his statements repeatedly has said "I didn't

do anything wrong, I didn't know anything wrong was going on."

The statement hasn't appeased the various Epstein victims in America,

and in particular one has said that Andrew knows what he has done.

And a lawyer is calling for Andrew to go to the US to testify.

Virginia Roberts gave a televised interview to American

television programme Dateline for NBC.

It was a programme watched by millions in which she further

detailed her alleged interactions with Prince Andrew.

The first time in London I was so young, Khelan woke me

up in the morning and said, "You're going to meet a prince today."

I didn't know at that point that I was going to be trafficked.

This is not a trial by the media.

it is an investigation, and it's not up to newspapers to point fingers,

it's not up to newspapers to put him on trial.

It is up to the Americans as and when they have a case.

Will he be a hostile witness to the FBI inquiry?

Will he be dragged into some court case in America?

That seems less likely.

But surely someone is going to want some answers to very many

questions about his connection to Jeffrey Epstein,

to the girls and to all those stories which have been buffeting

the Royal Family throughout the summer months.

Despite his protestations of innocence,

we don't really know what happened, and therein lies the problem.

And I think that this will continue to dog him,

this affair, for the rest of his life.

The impact of the Epstein scandal on the Royal Family is yet to be seen.

The Royal Family are by their very nature loyal to one another,

and they close ranks and support each other.

But Prince Andrew is testing that policy and that loyalty,

and, you know, family ties absolutely to the limit.

The Royal Family over the centuries have been involved in

all sorts of allegations, innuendo, scandals, and they have survived.

They've survived for over a thousand years,

and they will continue to survive.

Individual members of the royal family are not involved in this, only Prince Andrew.

As Prince Andrew's future is discussed

and speculated upon in every quarter,

the title Duke of York is itself facing an unknown future.

Because Prince Andrew has no male heirs, the title is due to end.

But Andrew has only two daughters,

and as things stand at the moment, as I understand it,

the title will go into abeyance, or die with him, if you like.

And then it will be up to another monarch,

Prince William, who has two sons and he could give his son Louis

the title Duke of York when he comes to the throne.

Currently eighth in line to the throne, questions remain

over Prince Andrew's future and that of the Royal House of York.

His diary is having to be cleared

because of the continued speculation, and it's really

unsure and uncertain quite what's going to happen next in terms of

how Andrew's going to rebuild what is now a very tarnished reputation.

He's never going to get rid of the stigma,

but it doesn't mean he can't live with it.

It doesn't mean he can't go on, but it will always be there now.

There is talk that he might withdraw completely from Royal life.

But he can't disappear completely. He's a member of the Royal Family.

He cannot resign from the Royal Family.

He is still Prince Charles's brother and the Queen's favourite son.

This very damaging for the reputation of the Duke of York.

He would say at worst he's been too loyal to a friend,

and he shouldn't have continued the friendship with Epstein.

But you know, when you have people on the steps of a court

in New York saying "He knows what he has done,"

I don't think anybody thinks this is the end of the story.

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